A Calamitous Confinement
by AdamH312
Summary: Drawn to a distress signal from a damaged satellite, Curristan and Sam fall into a situation that seems to mean contact with an enemy yet not known to Curristan. Trapped aboard the damaged vessel, he races against time to save the occupants of the satellite, Sam and himself.
1. Arrival on Satellite V-489

The TARDIS raced through the vortex, following the trail of the distress signal. The ship had left Seventeenth Century France quickly and was now approaching the origin.

"_Well this is interesting"_ came Curristan's remark as he glanced at the main monitor screen.

"_What's up and what are you doing?"_ Sam asked in curiosity and a little apprehension.

"_Following the trail of this distress signal...from what looks like a signal beacon of a space station. I locked on and I am going to see if I can be of any help. If we have to we can evacuate them to a nearby system so they can be safer."_

"_Makes sense but why should we be going? Surely the nearby authorities could be better suited to doing that themselves?"_

"_Yeah, but I feel that it may take too long and we can get them off quicker if the space station is falling out of orbit or hull breached."_

Sighing in defeat Sam relented. _"Fine lets go."_

Smiling Curristan operated a switch, causing the TARDIS to rock slightly as it approached the source of the signal.

–

Materialising on the space station, the TARDIS appeared as a white cabinet in a corridor with alarms blaring constantly.

A woman began to approach the suddenly appeared cabinet before the doors shot open and two people burst out startling her,

"_Hello there I am Curristan and this is my friend Sam. Sorry for bursting in on you like this but my ship here detected your distress signal and here we are."_

The bewildered woman suddenly broke out of her shock before replying _"Ah I see, well if you can help then come with me."_

Curristan grinned before saying _"Lead the way miss?"_

"_Commander Katria."_

"_Nice to meet you. Hope that Sam and I can be of some help."_

"_I would welcome that very much" _Commander Katria exclaimed with relief.

Katria then beckoned them to follow her.

After a couple minutes the group had reached the command centre near the centre of the module. The mood seemed to be quite nervous and the alarms which were still sounding didn't make things easier.

"_Turn that off! Status report."_

The alarms immediately ceased, though the red lights continued to flash.

A female crewmember rushed to Commander Katria and saluted . _"Life support systems are still stable, though there seems to be something hampering with the security systems. I don't know what I can do to maintain the forcefield surrounding the station."_

"_That's understandable. I hope that we can sort this out soon. Otherwise the station could be in trouble."_

Curristan immediately cut in. _"I wonder if I could help. I have a way with computers."_

Without listening to respond he moved what he could see was the main console and began to type out rapidly. Looking quickly he could see that a block had been placed on the system. It didn't look Dalek which was a relief. However he was sure that it was something sinister.

However he was on his guard which he had always been since the Time War. Even though it was over, he never had really lost that feeling he had when things seemed to be wrong.

"_So what is the matter Curristan?"_ came the inquisitive question from Sam.

Frowning Curristan scratched his head. _"Right now I do not know, but I am sure that sooner or later something will give me an idea of what is happening. I have a feeling that we will know very soon."_

Satisfied with the answer Sam fell silent.

Walking over to Commander Katria, Curristan decided to see what he could do to help.

"_Commander can I do anything to deal with this situation?"_

Turning and fixing a smile on her face she nodded. _"I think that you could help with the sorting of the data which we have collected. It seems that we have detected something and you may know what it is.."_

Quickly moving to the console indicated, Curristan began to type on the keypad. As the information moved across the screen, he had a sudden realisation of what he was looking at. He could see that these were life-sign patterns of some kind. It seemed to Curristan to be a mixture of both electronic and biological signals. It reminded him of something Romana had told him about she had heard from the Doctor.

"_What the hell is this? It can't be. This seems like something similar to...Cybermen!"_


	2. Situation Desperate

Curristan immediately began to move energy from the core generator into the security systems so to bolster the protection of the core. After several tense seconds the security bulkhead doors slammed shut, just as the figure of a Cyberman approached it.

"_Phew that was close. Though it wont hold them for long. We need a more effective way to keep them from taking control of the main consoles."_

Katria looked at Curristan in deep thought.

"_I have no idea what we could do. The satellite isn't built to take such a sustained assault. The intruders are making their way through the satellite section by section. I think they are everywhere except here."_

"_Well my dear Katria we have to focus on keeping this area contained. The Cybermen wont give up and will keep trying to breach those bulkhead doors."_

Walking over to the main console he began to type quickly and there was a humming noise as he began to erect a magnetic forcefield around the room to add a stronger layer of protection. He knew that it wouldn't last against the Cybermen.

Meanwhile Sam sat nearby watching Curristan. She could tell that Curristan knew what was going on, but she had decided to keep quiet so he could keep working. She knew that she would be told eventually, but now she could afford to wait.

Curristan however could sense Sam's quiet. He had guessed that she was allowing him to work, but her silence was making him uneasy. He had never known that this would be the situation they would find on the station.

"_Right looks like I have done all I can for now"_ he announced, typing the final commands into the console.

The sound of humming increased as the forcefield finally reached full power.

"_There you go, finally completed. Least now we are generally safe for now. I am sorry I can't do anything more but I didn't have much to work with."_

Katria sighing looked at Curristan with relief. _"Thank you so much, I hope we can survive for at least a while in here."_

Curristan walking over placing a hand on her shoulder. _"I will try my best to find a more permanent working solution. It seems like right now the Cybermen are trying to find a way through already. I give them about twenty minutes maximum before the forcefield is breached."_

"_Curristan what's going on?"_ Sam's voice suddenly echoed across the room.

Moving over Curristan pulled Sam into a reassuring hug.

"_The forcefield I have placed will hold for some time, though the Cybermen who are now in control of the rest of the station will eventually succeed if another more permanent solution is found. I had better get back to work."_

Moving back to the main console Curristan furiously began to type, focusing on trying to build a more secure forcefield strength,

Meanwhile outside the Cybermen had moved to pull a massive laser drill into position.

"_START THE DRILL...WE NEEEED TO GET INNNN THERE."_

The drill firing into life, began to apply a massive thermic pressure onto the forcefield, starting to produce a high pitched whine.

"_DRILL BEGINNING TO TEAR DOWN FORCEFIELD...TIME TO DESTRUCTION OF FORCEFIELD TEN MINUTES."_

Hearing the whine Curristan began to type quicker, knowing the laser would eventually breach the protection of the forcefield.

The whine continued to climb in pitch as the forcefield began to slowly erode into what would be a complete energy collapse .

Racing over to the energy couplings he immediately used his sonic screwdriver to increase the power to two hundred per cent on the security forcefield coupling to stall for extra time. He then moved back to the keyboard and began to command the forcefield to begin pitching at a higher frequency.

After several moments there was a buzzing sound followed by a loud bang. Suddenly a Cyberman voice spoke. "LASER DRILL INOPERABLE. FORCEFIELD NOW PULSING AT A HIGHER FREQUENCY AND HAS OVERLOADED DRILL. BRING CYBERCHARGE."

Curristan hearing that grumbled in his mind _'Great that's what we don't need. That device will certainly breach the forcefield no matter how much I do.'_

"_Right everyone get back from the starboard hatch, they are going to use a cybercharge which will breach the forcefield in an instant, get back!"_

Everyone has just made it to the other side of the room when a focused blast ripped through the forcefield and the door, tearing a breech where several Cybermen walked through.

_'Here we go, time to think of a new plan"_ thought Curristan...


	3. A Quick Escape

Curristan stared in silence at what looked like the Cyberman Leader as it approached him. He knew that now the situation was now very dangerous. He had to get the Cybermen out as soon as possible. However now he had to wait.

"_YOU ARE NOW UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE CYBERMEN...YOU WILL NOW SUBMIT TO US..."_

Continuing to remain in silence, Curristan suddenly hit a button causing an alarm to sound further down the corridor. Turning the Cybermen Leader addressed Curristan.

"_YOUR BIOLOGICAL MAKEUP REGISTERS AS TIME LORD. WHO ARE YOU? ARE YOU THE DOCTOR?"_

"No, no my name is Curristan. I am a Time Lord, a survivor of the Time War too."

"_UNDERSTOOD. YOU ARE SOMEONE NEW..."_

Taking the pause as a signal, Curristan immediately hit a switch, causing an electrical current to erupt as several nearby power cells overloaded. The Cyber Leader and the two Cybermen nearby collapsed to the ground.

Running over to the console he realised that the station was now about to be approached by a Cybership. A quick few commands and the main sub-particle reactor began to slowly build up to an overload.

Picking up a Cyberman's pulse rifle he turned to the others. _"Come with me! I can get you off using my TARDIS!"_ Curristan yelled as Sam and Katria along with the three crewmembers followed.

Racing through the corridor, Curristan shot down every Cybermen they came across, shocking Sam at how cavalier he was being using violence.

After a tense few minutes they reached the TARDIS and they bundled in.

Dropping the weapon just beyond the threshold and approaching the console, Curristan jumped into action. Frantically setting a course he set the TARDIS to dematerialise, just as the station began to go critical and finally exploded in a huge explosion followed by a massive shock wave. The Cybership approaching the station was suddenly caught, ripping it to pieces and scattering the remnants in all directions, ending the threat once and for all.

Moving around the console, Curristan addressed Katria. _"Where would you like to go?"_

Katria shrugged. _"I think I should go back to the nearest colony world. We can then report the Cyberman incursion and make preparations for any potential further attacks."_

"_That makes sense. I think that is a good idea. I shouldn't really get further involved. I can't."_

"_Why not? You saved us? Why can't you help us more?"_

"_I felt that saving you from that distress signal was the least I could do, now I need to let history take it's course."_

"_I don't fully understand but I..."_ she trailed off unsure.

Curristan nodded before looking over at Sam who looked quite uncomfortable. Meeting his gaze she smiled before going into the next room.

Holding that thought for now, Curristan continued to reprogram the co-ordinates for the nearest planet. On his mind however he noted that he had surrendered to his old soldier impulses from the Time War when dealing with the Cybermen. It had been worriedly easy to slip back into those habits.

Materialising on the colony planet TXA-89438, Curristan knew that he could leave the survivors here. After a quick goodbye, all three left and once more the console room was now empty once again.

Lost in this thoughts, he didn't hear Sam coming back into the room.

"_Curristan are you okay?"_ Sam tentatively asked.

Looking up he nodded. _"Yes, just didn't realise that the old Time War instincts were still there. I realise it may of scared you but I needed to get us out before the station exploded."_

"_I understand, I am glad we got away."_

"_Me too. But now we need to move on. Hopefully the next adventure we have is less stressful. Here's hoping..."_ Curristan joked as Sam smiled in amusement...


End file.
